Mr P.N.Venkatachalam, Managing Director, (National Banking Group), State Bank of India, and Mr S. Krishanamoorthy, Chief General Manager, at a news conference in Chennai on Friday.

CHENNAI, Oct. 18

STATE Bank of India has disbursed housing loans of nearly Rs 1,922 crore in the first-half of the current fiscal and expects to disburse another Rs 2,500 crore in the second-half, Mr P.N. Venkatachalam, Managing Director (National Banking Group), SBI, said today. He was addressing the press after inaugurating a property fair organised by SBI.

Incremental retail advances were of the order of Rs 2,567 crore in the first-half, he said. He said SBI was now focussing on speed of delivery, apart from offering cheaper loans, as it had become alive to customer needs.

Asked about customer complaints that existing borrowers on floating rates were not getting the full benefit offered to newer borrowers, Mr Venkatachalam said that the bank was aware of the problem. He said that a reduction in PLR would benefit all borrowers, and held out the hope that this may happen if there was a rate cut in the credit policy. But he said that the bank had to strike a balance between the customer needs and its own affordability. He said that if the bank were to pass on the full benefits of lower rates to all its existing borrowers, it would have to take a very great hit on margins.